Happily Ever After: A Day at the Burrow
by evyfleur
Summary: Hermione goes to spend another Christmas with the rest of the Weasleys at the Burrow. She and her husband Ron have a wonderful time, and everyone takes care of the kids. There is no conflict in this story at all, it's all pure fluff! Have fun reading!


 **Happily Ever After: A Day at the Burrow**

            The snow was falling lightly as Hermione pulled up to the Burrow and got out of her car. The house was lit spectacularly from the roof to the ground. There were lights everywhere; the house appeared as though it had gotten in a bad fight with the Carnival Ferris wheel. Even some of the chickens were looking particularly (and peculiarly) festive, aimlessly pecking away on the front lawn with multi-colored lights wrapped around them. Hermione suspected that it was Fred and George who had committed this crime. After all, they had been complaining lately of having way too many Color-Changing No-Heat Christmas Lights left in inventory.

            Hermione popped open the trunk to get out the presents. Well, "presents" was a bit of an understatement, she thought as she pulled her scarf tighter around her neck. There were bags upon bags of gifts in the trunks for Arthur and Molly, her own parents, Ron, Harry, all of the Weasley siblings, their children, and her own children. It had been a long and hard day of work at The Department of International Magical Cooperation, and being chief of it was not very convenient on Christmas Eve.

            She heard the door open abruptly, and looked up to see who it was. Ron, tall and gangly, older than before and yet as gleeful as he always was at Christmas time, came dashing out in his socks and Weasley sweater (maroon) to greet her. 

            "'Mione, my darling!" He shouted, grinning broadly, and engulfed her with a huge hug. "How was work? Hard day today, wasn't it?"

            "Oh, especially. I'm just exhausted Ron. You wouldn't believe how many International calamities can happen in the space of ten hours! I've been talking to the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad all day and finally decided to leave it up to Padma and Parvati, who insisted that I come home." She said all of this very quickly, and with a sigh, realized how cold it was outside. 

"Ron! Why didn't you put any shoes on? You're going to get a cold. Come on, help me bring all of this in," she scolded him, and placed a small kiss on his cheek. Ron blushed, and laughed. 

"Of course. Did you get a chess set for Caitlyn? She was really hoping for one so badly, and I, well, you know, I have kind of a soft spot for Caitlyn," he said, with a goofy smile. Hermione smiled.

"You have a soft spot for all of our children, dear," she replied, "and yes, I did get her a chess set."

They both loaded their arms with bags and packages and were ushered into the house by Charlie. The inside of the house smelled like turkey, pies, and pine, the smells of Christmas. He helped take her coat and scarf and greeted her cheerfully.

"Nice to see you, 'Mione," he said, taking a look at the presents, "you can put all those in my room upstairs. Bill and I are going to take care of them later tonight." He smiled. "It's going to be a very long night."

And that it was. Children of all ages were running all over the house, shouting and laughing and trying to annoy Percy by stealing his glasses. The house was filled with the usual, busy cheer of Christmas, and just for the overwhelming sensation, Hermione went over the number of people who were staying there for the holidays. 

Charlie had only recently gotten married and his wife was pregnant with a little girl, she was getting rather big now, and loved tapioca pudding and baked potatoes with bacon, mustard, and basil. Yes, it was the craving stage. Bill wasn't married…yet. It was surprising, but true. Percy was married to Penelope Clearwater, of course, and they had two children to boast. George was the proud husband of Alicia Spinnet (a former Chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team), and he was the father of four kids; Fred was married to Angelina Johnson (another Chaser) and they had five. Ron and Hermione were in the lead at the moment, though, with seven children, and tomorrow, Hermione was going to surprise Ron with some more news. Harry was finally fallen for Ginny, who was very relieved that he had come to his senses. They were married and had a little boy who had Harry's messy, jet black hair, but Ginny's freckles and bright blue eyes. His name was Cedric, and at four years old he acted like a genius and quite often scared his parents with the magic he could achieve involuntarily. 

Anyway, Hermione added all these children to the adults in the room to find the staggering sum of thirty-five people for whom she and Ron had to provide gifts. The Weasley grandparents, Arthur and Molly, had to find beds (or sleeping bags, cots, blankets, and pillows) for everyone. At the moment, though, thankfully, some of them were out to save the adults some hassle. Harry, Fred, George, six of their kids, Cedric, Arthur, Bill, and Hermione's two oldest (Will and Noss) were outside playing quidditch in the back field. That would save a lot of time.

After relieving herself of the burden of about seven bags of presents in Bill and Charlie's room, freshening up, and settling in, Hermione came downstairs to attend Ginny, Alicia, Angelina, and Caroline (Charlie's wife) in preparing supper for all the party of people at the Burrow. 

"This is the largest family I could ever imagine," she said with a contented sigh. Ginny hurried over with an ecstatic grin to give her a hug.

"Not that you have any part in it at all though, right, 'Mione?" Ginny teased gently, her floury hands patting her on the back. They all laughed.

"Well, yes…I suppose I am partly to blame." 

Preparing supper was no easy feat. Everyone was involved some way or another, and it wasn't long before two of Hermione's children found her. One of them, Jane, was eight years old. "Mum," she demanded, "I can go outside with the rest and play quidditch, can't I?"

"Of course you can, dear. Just be very careful and don't let any of those boys knock you off your broom."

"Alright then!" She smiled widely and hurried outside to join them. This brought Hermione's attention back down to her youngest daughter, Elizabeth. She was tiny with a poof of untidy, bright red hair, freckles, and big, brown eyes. Right now she was looking up at her mum, nibbling on her finger. 

"Yes? What would you like, my little bookmark?" she asked. Elizabeth was looking at her matter-of-factly; though she wasn't yet two, she was very intelligent. 

"Want to help cook," she said, holding out the hand that wasn't preoccupied for Hermione to pick her up. 

"Alright, you can help me cook," Hermione said, carefully removing Elizabeth's fingers from her mouth and balancing her on her hip. Then they prepared the meal, Elizabeth getting to stir the batter, or pour the flour.

In the other room with the brightly lit and overly decorated Christmas tree, Ron was telling stories of past Christmases to Harry, Augery, and Caitlyn (their other three children)Percy and Penelope's kids (Percivel and Persephone) and to the remainder of Fred and George's children. Right now he was telling about their fourth year and how he was jealous of Viktor Krum and how Ginny had to go to the ball with Neville. 

He was highly exaggerating this, though, of course. His description of Viktor sounded more like a mountain troll with a broken nose, but his details of the Great Hall, the music, the garden, and the general feeling of that night was perfect. The kids were fascinated by his stories and always asked for more as soon as he was finished; so he started telling them about another time in his fourth year, when he had to fight off a throng of merpeople to save Fleur's sister…

The night went on as thus until all of the children were read a book and tucked into bed, and the adults were left to finally relax, while setting up Santa Clause's appearance. Harry strode over to Hermione for the first time she had seen him that night, and gave her a hug. 

"How's it going, Hermione? Are you doing well?" 

Hermione clung to Harry happily, like he was her long lost brother. 

"I'm great, Harry; insanely busy, but great." She withdrew from him; smiling. "And you?" she asked.

"Oh, you know, I'm the usual." He said modestly.

"That bad, is it?" She replied. They both laughed good-naturedly. "There are so many children in this house, can you believe it?"

"Hardly, but I'm sure there will be more," he said, with a grin.

"Yes, you're right. There will be; and relatively soon, as a matter of fact," she said, discreetly patting her (now small) stomach, "but don't tell Ron yet. It's going to be a Christmas surprise."

"Don't tell me what?" Ron asked, joining them, and placed a kiss on Hermione's cheek. 

"Your present, Ron. It's Christmas! You're never supposed to ask questions at this time of year, don't you know that?"

"I do, excuse me, Harry, though you just violated that rule yourself. I shouldn't have asked." 

"Got me there," Harry said, smiling, and giving Hermione a secretive wink, exchanged a few more best-friend words with Ron, and left them to their own devices. 

The tree looked beautiful in the corner. It was large and a deep green, and was fragrant with the scent of fir and pine. The dozens of ornaments and heaps of tinsel glittered on the tree magically, and Hermione spotted small snitches, owls, wands, and trains hanging silently and majestically on the tree. Nearly the amazing number of stockings "hung by the chimney with care" reminded Hermione of that muggle cartoon about the Grinch.

Bill and Charlie were setting out all of the presents, stuffing stockings, and joking around with ribbons and bows all over themselves. Ginny and all the other wives were holding a soft, sweet conversation in the corner; Caroline and Penelope were knitting scarves. Fred and George were pestering Harry and Percy, and Arthur and Molly had gone to bed after the children. Hermione sighed comfortably, with Ron's arm around her, and leaned back into his warm chest.

"Did you ever think it would be like this, Ron?" she asked him innocently.

"Since first year," he replied. "I had this feeling; I knew it would be like this. That's why I was so jealous of Krum in fourth year. It was the first time that my image of us had been threatened. I love you, 'Mione. You know that. I love this family, and Harry, and all of our children, and I wouldn't do anything to trade my life away." He smiled at her and pulled her closer with his arm.

"I love you, Ron," she answered, looking up at him. He abruptly took out his wand and cast some spell upward. Curiously, Hermione glanced to see what it was. 

"Mistletoe," Ron said mischievously. "I guess we have to kiss." 

"Oh, horrors," said Hermione teasingly.

"Hey, that isn't nice!"

He wrapped his arms around her and leaned in, placing his lips on hers. She reacted, and put her arms around him too, delicately. She loved his kisses. They were always so tender and caring but at the same time wildly passionate. It was no wonder she already had seven kids, she thought to herself, grinning. Ron deepened the kiss intimately, and Hermione acted accordingly.

"Let's go to bed, it's pretty late," she said to him, once they had broken apart.

"Sounds good to me," Ron replied, an innocent smile plastered on his face. She knew what he was suggesting.

            *~~~~~~*

            The next morning Hermione awoke to the rumbling of feet downstairs towards the tree. She felt Ron wake up beside her with a slight movement and a yawn. 

            "Good morning," she whispered.

            "Good morning," he responded, kissing her lightly on the forehead, and pushing her bushy brown locks behind her ear.

            "I have something to tell you," Hermione said, looking at him happily.

            "What's that?" He asked, searching her face. She smiled at him and gave him a short kiss. 

            "Elizabeth isn't going to be the youngest for much longer, Ron."

            Ron's eyes grew wide for a moment, and then his face was filled with love, joy, and excitement all at the same time.

            "Really?" he said rather loudly. "You're going to have another?" 

            Hermione nodded eagerly.

            "Oh, 'Mione," he said, giving her a huge hug and kiss. They lay there for a while, just thinking about this new discovery.

            "It's a boy, isn't it?" Ron asked.

            "Yes, I believe so," Hermione replied.

            Suddenly, Augery, their four year old, ran into the room and jumped on the bed.

            "Mum! Dad! You have to come downstairs! You won't believe what Caitlyn got from Santa Claus! A chess set, just like she wanted! Isn't that wonderful? I've been waiting for you to come down so I can open my presents, and so has Harry. Come on, hurry up!" She said all this very fast, and was so delighted that she was hopping up and down on the bed, and tugging on Ron's hand, entreating him to get up.

            "Alright, alright," Ron said, "go on downstairs and we'll be there in a bit."

            "Okay!"

            Christmas was always like this at the Burrow with the Weasleys, and it would continue to be like this. Numbers of children would grow, sorrows would decrease, and each year was more unique and exciting than the last.

~_Evyfleur_


End file.
